Another Rivers thread... Coach K speaks

After Chad Ford ripped Rivers all day yesterday, Coach K called him to defend Austin...

There have also been some comments around here about how Coach K regretted recuriting Rivers, and how he disrupted the locker room.

Coack K's take

quote:

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ESPN’s Chad Ford had doubts, but Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski called up Ford to defend Rivers.

“He is an alpha dog. I think he will succeed in the NBA because of that,” Krzyzewski said. “He believes he’s going to be great. I’d rather have a guy like that than a guy who doesn’t believe in himself.”

Valid point. It’s a question of can the hubris be reined in a little. Coach K thinks this is a coach’s son who will adapt to what is best for the team. Coach K called Rivers “very coachable.”

“When Austin came to Duke, I told him that every player is like a house: The more skills you learn, the more windows you have on your house. When he came to Duke, he had one really big window. He was an amazing scorer. The goal was to add more windows to his game. He’s in that process right now.

“I hope he gets a demanding coach at the next level who pushes him to keep adding to his game. That’s how he’ll become great. If he reverts back to just doing the thing he does well, his chances lessen that he’s a good player in the NBA.”

Some teams are very high on Rivers and I’d be surprised if he slips out of the top 10 tonight. But I think the team he lands on and the coach does matter. If he goes to a bad team that needs scoring and just gives him a green light, that may not be best for his development

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